Limited Class Exp vs. PCAT - Similar for Anyone Else?

[greenlocus]

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I graduated from Univ. of MI with a BA in English and Philosophy with a 3.92. I am currently this year lined up to take all the requisite courses (this summer, fall, spring, and next summer) before possible admittance in 2010.

Applicable classes taken aprrox 8 years ago are:

• 1 gen chem semester
• 1 survey bio course
• College Algebra

I can study like a champ and retain info fairly well but am starting to think I may be setting myself up for failure - believing that I can realistically:

• Book learn (dummies guides, cliffs AP, etc):
  • More Bio
  • More Chem
  • Elementary Microbio, Anatomy, Orgo, Stats, and Calc
• Take Practice Tests
• Score decent (70-75ish) on PCAT in October

What would benefit me is to hear what you guys think. Have any of you been in a similar situation? It is one thing to review the information for three months but to actually "learn" the material while in class and working part time... doable?

It isn't the end of the world if I have to wait an additional year, but hey, I'm not getting any younger and would like to start as soon as I can in Pharm. Again, looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

[diastole]

I graduated from college in the early 90s and had originally planned to just take the few classes that I lacked. I tried to reteach myself chemistry and biology from Kaplan because I had already taken these but had forgotten large chunks of material. I ended up changing my mind and retaking all my pre-reqs. I found that there was a huge difference in my grasp of the material between learning it on my own and actually taking the class. I could answer the fundamental questions reasonably well when I studied on my own but my breadth and depth of knowledge was lacking. It was hard to gain that when you aren't being assigned homework or tests to make your mistakes and be able to clear up misconceptions.

In your case, you have to teach yourself a lot of subjects that you haven't seen before in a very short period of time. Maybe you are brilliant, highly motivated and can do this but I think the average person would have a very tough time with this plan.

What you can do is go ahead with your plan but before you sit for your October exam, take a practice exam online and see what your score is. It should give you a rough idea of how you are going to do. If it doesn't look like you are going to make a 70 or 75 then you can decide if you even want to attempt it.

 

[Twiggy1]

I'm kind of in the same boat....Engineering degree in '92 and MBA in '94. Have decided to make a career change and am re-taking ALL of science pre-req's. Made the decision to push possible pharm school to 2011, but there is a LOT of dust that needs to be knocked off, and just looking at the PCAT board here and some of the practice tests, there is NO WAY I would get a half decent score at this point (Oct. test). So, plan is to take the August PCAT next year and the Oct. as a backup and go from there. Good luck!

 

[greenlocus]

Yea, understood. I think I may try to go through a Bio Book and Chem book while taking this Fund. Chem course and then see how I do going through the Kaplan book and some practice tests. It would be awesome to score decent so I don't have to wait til 2011....

Again, if there are others out there that are or have been in a similar situation, let me know how your studying went please. An example would be Quantitative; I think you can self teach Algebra, PreCalc, basic Stats and Calc fairly easily (i.e., Do not need a 1.5 years worth of course work to perform well on PCAT in these sections.). Anyone find Chem and Bio section to be the same?